Home robots can be hacked to spy and attack their owners – and this clip of a mini android wielding a screwdriver is proof

Popular Alpha 2 robot is marketed as the 'world's first humanoid robot for the family' but this clip might put you off

By Margi Murphy

23rd August 2017, 10:04 am

Updated: 5th October 2018, 11:32 am

THIS adorable humanoid robot can be programmed to stab you when you're not looking.

UBTech's home android Alpha 2 - which has proved a particular hit in the US - was hacked by security experts who used the experiment as way to expose how vulnerable the technology we are allowing into our homes is.

Alpha 2 wields a screwdriver and mercilessly plunges it into the heart of a tomato

In the clip, little Alpha 2 can be seen furiously stabbing a tomato with a screwdriver after researchers at security company IOActive managed to hack the software that controls it.

They were also able to turn two other popular robot brands, NAO and Pepper, to capture video and audio as they manoeuvred around a home and send it to whoever they wanted.

Factory robots could also be hacked, they warned.

According to the boffins, a brand of industrial robots called Cobots that work alongside humans, are a potential hazard.

They usually include certain safety and collision detection technologies to prevent possible injury from use of the products but an experiment has proven that these robots can be hacked remotely and used to injure humans around them.

UBTech Alpha 2 turns into terrifying stabbing machine

"Even running at slow speeds, their force is more than sufficient to cause a skull fracture," IOActive wrote in a statement.

Japanese robot Pepper has been dubbed the world's first emotional robot

But IOActive warned that we also need to evaluate the security and dangers of robotic devices that are appearing in our homes and workplaces.

Lucas Apa, IOActive principal security consultant, said: "The brightest minds in the word have spoken out this week about the potential dangers of robots, but I would argue that it isn't just the use of robots in the defence industry we need to worry about, it's also the ones in our homes and factories.